Jerusalem artichokes

[scarey55]

It would still be nice to leave just a few for decoration though............do you not think? (And curiosity value!)

I cut the flowers from some of my JA's and put them with some Fresias, I think they are really pretty especially for free

[piskieinboots]

Beautiful dear girl

What a crop these JAs are! You get a wind (! ) break, you get flowers, then you get food - amazing

[Jillyreeves]

I cut the flowers from some of my JA's and put them with some Fresias, I think they are really pretty especially for free

They are pretty "sound of me kicking myself"

[piskieinboots]

erm, Scarey darling - I need to know how you managed to scale up a 10ft stem to get 'em

[basketcase]

Scarey - really pretty!

Snadger - are the JAs part of your pocket planting scheme, or are they in a place of their own?

[scarey55]

erm, Scarey darling - I need to know how you managed to scale up a 10ft stem to get 'em

*picture Scarey tottering on a ladder leaning against Ja's blowing in the wind

[Keith2202]

I had some plants growing on the allotment, didn't know what they were but they didn't look like weeds so left them. One got knocked over and I hadn't bothered to clear it away. Then I saw a picture of a JA in The Times on Saturday which looked like my fallen plant so I pulled it up and sure enough it was a JA with a few tubers on it! Had them for lunch, the first time I've ever eaten them!
Another unexpected freebie, result!

Do some of the tubers break off of their own accord and stay in the soil for next year's growth?

[piskieinboots]

Do some of the tubers break off of their own accord and stay in the soil for next year's growth?

yep and the year after and the next and then again some more...

[scarey55]

They do say, the only way to get rid of Jerusalem artichokes in your garden is to move house

[Keith2202]

Ok cool. That area still needs to be dug over to get rid of bindweed roots so I'll see how many have volunteered to be left behind for next year!

[chriscross1966]

You can get rid of them if you go down/out about 2 feet and riddle the soil through fairly fine mesh, or just keep pulling out the volunteers when you see em ... they're pretty disctinctive unless you're growing sunflowers on that spot......

chrisc

[chriscross1966]

Hurrah.... got my avatar working......

[Florence Fennel]

Hurrah.... got my avatar working......

and very nice it is too Chris - wish I could figure out how to do it!

[Snadger]

Scarey - really pretty!

Snadger - are the JAs part of your pocket planting scheme, or are they in a place of their own?

Ah......now you've opened up another can-o-worms! They are part of a semi-failed experiment.

I have a 12 foot by 4 foot bed which has clubroot AND onion white rot in it. Decided to use it for growing, runner beans,climbing Barlotti and butter beans.
Dug a trench along it's centre and heaped the soil along the sides. Spent a couple of months adding plant debris,old leaves, grass cuttings etc before covering up the trench prior to sowing.
Put up metal support bars at each end and had the bright idea of planting JA's down the centre and allowing the climbing beans to grow up them as well as the 8 foot canes.
Where it all went pear shaped was that the JA's are a bit too rampant for the climbing beans and i was having to clip them back. What really put the kybosh on the experiment was the recent high winds we've had in these parts. JA's were blown down, taking the beans with them!

So all in all I wil have a good crop of JA's and a poor crop of climbing beans.
They could be used in a pocket growing scheme though, similar to a bean wigwam. You would have to make sure they weren't shading other plants.
I will probably try a few in pockets next year. I have french climbing bean wigwams incorporated at present and they work well adding a bit of height so no reason why JA's shouldn't.

[Florence Fennel]

I remember you posting that experiment Snadger, sorry to hear it didn't quite work out. Bit like my trying courgettes inside the bean wigwam they did poke their heads out and I got one or two decent ones, but then they gave up the ghost. Hope you find plenty of uses for the JAs.